Using Pictures to Understand Recognition Memory in Alzheimer's Disease

描述（由申请人提供）：该项目的目标是利用图片更好地了解阿尔茨海默病（AD）患者记忆丧失的具体性质。通过运用实验心理学和认知神经科学技术，这项工作将有助于阐明哪些识别记忆过程受损，哪些相对完整。行为数据将告诉我们患者的表现，事件相关电位（erp）将允许我们记录大脑活动的离散变化，而不需要研究参与者的明显行为反应。记忆的双过程模型认为，认知是由回忆和熟悉度提供的。虽然人们知道阿尔茨海默症早期的回忆受损，但关于轻度阿尔茨海默症患者是否能成功地利用熟悉度来支持记忆判断，研究存在矛盾。我们之前的工作表明，图片是一类重要的刺激，可以让轻度AD患者使用增强熟悉度来提高他们对单词的记忆准确性。基于这一假设，本研究的主要目的是确定1)图片是否允许轻度AD患者成功地使用熟悉度来支持图片识别，2)图片是否允许轻度AD患者成功地使用检索后监测和验证，以及3)轻度AD患者是否可以使用图像策略将单词转化为图片。作为本研究的一部分，候选人寻求以下方面的培训：1)与患者有关的临床研究的方法和伦理，2)学习和记忆的高级认知神经科学，以及3)理解复杂的高密度ERP数据及其与记忆的认知和神经相关的关系。拟议的研究计划、教学课程以及导师和顾问的指导将促进候选人发展成为一名独立的临床科学家，专注于了解阿尔茨海默病的记忆是如何崩溃的。相关性（见说明）：本提案中概述的实验旨在了解阿尔茨海默病记忆丧失的基础，以及在临床环境中快速实施的可能的早期干预策略。这项转化性研究可以帮助减轻家庭护理人员的负担，减轻卫生保健系统基础设施的经济负担，并提供对这种毁灭性疾病的新认识，以便开发新的药物治疗和干预措施。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The goal of this project is to use pictures to better understand the specific nature of memory loss in patients with Alzheimer's disease (AD). By using techniques of experimental psychology and cognitive neuroscience, this work will help to elucidate which processes of recognition memory are impaired and which are relatively intact. Behavioral data will inform us about the patients' performance, and event-related potentials (ERPs) will allow us to record discrete changes in brain activity, without the necessity of overt behavioral responses from study participants. Dual-process models of memory argue that recognition is subserved by recollection and familiarity. While it is understood that recollection is impaired early in AD, research is conflicted as to whether patients with mild AD can successfully use familiarity to support memory judgments. Our previous work suggests that pictures are an important class of stimuli that may allow patients with mild AD to use enhanced familiarity to improve their memory accuracy over words. Based on this hypothesis, the primary aims of the proposed research are to determine 1) whether pictures allow patients with mild AD to successfully use familiarity to support picture recognition, 2) whether pictures allow patients with mild AD to successfully use post-retrieval monitoring and verification, and 3) whether patients with mild AD can use imagery strategies to turn words into pictures. As part of this proposed research, the candidate seeks training in: 1) the methodology and ethics of clinical research pertaining to patients, 2) advanced cognitive neuroscience of learning and memory and 3) understanding complex high-density ERP data and how it relates to cognitive and neural correlates of memory. The proposed research plan, didactic courses, and tutorial instruction from mentors and advisors will foster the candidate's development into an independent clinician-scientist focusing on understanding how memory breaks down in Alzheimer's disease. RELEVANCE (See instructions): The experiments outlined in this proposal are aimed both at understanding the underpinnings of memory loss in AD, and also at possible early intervention strategies that can be rapidly implemented in the clinical setting. This translational research can help to ease the burden placed on caregivers in the home, ease the financial burden placed on the infrastructure of the health care system, and provide a novel understanding of this devastating disease to allow for new drug therapies and interventions to be developed.